Southern Living's Coconut Almond Creme Cake

Introducing the...

Coconut-Almond Creme Cake

(Southern Living)

Julie and Lance started baking through the Top 10 Southern Living Layered Cakes awhile ago, and this was one they had left to tackle.  (Mom, I wish you were here to help us eat this cake!!)   

Synopsis about the cake:  It is very moist (which we loved) but was more of a yellow cake and didn't have the strong coconut cake flavor we were hoping for.   It is a great cake if you are not an expert cake decorator.  It took us less than 5 minutes to decorate with the icing and toppings.  It does take awhile to bake.  Do not be confused by the estimated time on the original recipe.  You also have a separate recipe for the layers and for the icing.  The recipe for the coconut mixture in the layers is supposed to chill for 8 hours.  That is not reflected in the recipe!  I am not going to list the recipe due to the amount of ingredients.  Click the Southern Living link at the top for details.

We did find a wonderful ingredient we think is the secret for a good pina colada!

This recipe is not for the faint of heart or diet.  Yes, you are seeing 2 sticks of cream cheese and 5 stick of butter.  With that being said, know the cake is HUGE. 

Once we saw the filling part of the recipe was supposed to chill for 8 hours, we hopped on that first.  It was strange with corn starch, whipping cream, sour cream, sugar, coconut, etc.

Of course we had an observer.  She was sad she was not a taste tester like Lance, although she made a good run for my cake plate once. :)

Julie has a handy little trick when lining cake pans with parchment paper (recommended so the cake doesn't stick)!

This cake also makes your house smell wonderful because of the toasted coconut!

Here we are mixing the batter...finally.  We were becoming a little impatient!

Sweet Mom and Baby Henry (who will be here in a short couple months)!

Finally when it went into the oven we had an amazing hamburger.  Lance likes to keep his skills for the grill....and it was worth it!

Back to the cake...and a lot of it!

Hamburger?

Cream cheese icing....you cannot beat!  (except with a mixer)

Digging into the decorative part... a little unsure!

I am naturally messy when creating.  Look at my art room and you can tell!

BUSTED.

The finished product....I personally think it looks better in person!

It is a lot of cake and is impossible to cut a small piece...

Enjoy...off to go rate it on their website!

Mug Brownie

Beware: This recipe can be dangerous to your diet. 

I am not sure why I haven't thought of this before OR how I didn't know a recipe like this existed.  I haven't had the chance to do major baking lately so I thought maybe this could tide you over till then.  It takes a whopping 5 minutes, TOPS.  Last night I tried 2 separate recipes but this recipe was the winner, hands down.

Mug Brownie

Ingredients:
4 T Sugar
4 T Flour
2 T Cocoa powder

2 T Vegetable Oil

2 T Water

Dash of salt

Simply mix in your dry ingredients and stir with a fork.  Then mix in your wet ingredients.   Cook it in the microwave for one minute and WALLAH.

I never said this recipe gets an "A" for presentation...it does get an "A" for the wonderful, fudgy taste!  This is perfect for one of those days you have a chocolate craving. Yuuum.

Holiday and Herbed Chicken Parmesan

Yes, I am back.  I did bake over the holidays but I was a slacker and didn't document my ventures.  I made cinnamon rolls and decided I like regular icing and not the cream cheese.  Normally I like cream cheese in everything.  I think the cream cheese is too strong and overtakes the cinnamon!

Also, I cooked Herbed Chicken Parmesan last night from Cooking Light.  This recipe was rated 5 stars out of 141 reviews.  (Has to be good, right?)  We added so much cheese I am sure it was no longer "light" but oooh soooo good.  (Can't take credit for this picture...it is off their site).

THE Club - Sweet Orange Rolls

I've been wanting to attempt sweet orange rolls since David and I first visited THE Club in Birmingham for brunch.  (If you haven't been, they are DELICIOUS.  When googling for the recipe I learned they were the inspiration for Sister Shubert's orange rolls.) I figured I might as well experiment this holiday when I am home with the family.  I didn't follow the recipe exactly but I will tell you what I did and didn't do and what I would recommend.  

THE Club Sweet Orange Rolls*

1/4 ounce dry yeast (1 package...I used rapid yeast and in this cold snap, it worked!)

1/4 c warm water - about 125 degrees (I got the water as warm as ours would get)

1/3 c butter, melted

1 cup sour cream

1/4 c sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

3 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1/2 c sugar

1 c flaked coconut

2 T butter

Orange Glaze

1 c. confectioners' sugar

1 T grated orange rind (I omitted)

1 T orange juice (used more like 2 since I eliminated the orange rind)

*Adapted from food.com

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large mixing bowl. How can something so great (like bread) come from something... so yeasty? 

Mix in the next 5 ingredients (everything but the flour).  Then gradually mix in the flour.  

Many thanks to Matt Fields, photographer extraordinaire.  

Place mixed dough in a well-greased bowl.  Aka, butter.  It works best.  Turn it over so the entire ball of dough is greased.

Since the temperature dropped 30 degrees overnight, I no longer had the pleasure of letting it rise in the attic.  Instead I opted for the oven method.  I turned it on 200 for a few minutes, and then cracked the door.  I let it rise in the warm oven for 2 hours.

This is the result.  I used rapid rise yeast...and I do believe it was more rapid than past attempts. 

This is to remind you of the before:

Mix the next 3 ingredients in a bowl.  This is where it gets hairy.  I did not have a zester nor did I have oranges that wanted to be zested.  (They had smooth peels.)  So I took to real orange extract.  THANK GOSH Mom had some.  I definitely would not have any at my house.  I put in 1/8 of a tablespoon.  I went on the light side because it smelled so potent.    Here is my zesting attmept gone bad.  I tried everything. 

I honestly think real zest isn't necessary.  Honestly, the thought of an orange peel to me is gross.  The recipe called for coconut.  I was not sure how I felt about that so I made one batch with and one without.  The recipe makes 2 pans.  Mom likes the coconut.  I like the one without.  I think the ones without still taste very similar to THE Club sweet orange rolls.  Maybe the sour cream is what makes them stand out?

Below is the first rectangle rolled.  The second one looked better but my hands were too gross to touch the camera!

Place them in a baking pan.  Do not worry if they look small, they will rise.

And after 30 minutes in the oven they will eventually look like this.

The recipe says 250 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  That is bogus.  I honestly cannot tell you how long I cooked them but it was likely twice that.  I watched them like a hawk and ended up turning the oven to 300 at one point.

As for the icing, I did not follow exact measurements obviously since I went with the 'no zest' route.  I used real orange juice from the orange, though.  That has to count for something.  I probably used more than 1 T...more like 2.

...And the result wasn't too shabby.  I have to say, they taste pretty darn good and similar to THE Club rolls.  

I will always be partial to the Julie/Shelley cinnamon rolls, though.  (Julie - I missed you.  I needed 2 more hands!) :)  Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!